Career women could harm their chances of having a baby

Women who are high-achievers at work, could be damaging their chances of having a baby according to a new study.

The study revealed that career women tended to have androgynous figures which can indicate higher levels of androgens, rather than oestrogen.

Professor Elizabeth Cashdan of the University of Utah found that the stress of high-powered jobs causes a hormonal shift in women, resulting in the female hormone oestrogen to be replaced by androgens.

Androgens are a group of hormones that includes the male hormone testosterone and are linked with strength and competitiveness.

The presence of androgens resulted in a smaller waist-to-hip ratio in these women which could be less conducive to childbearing.

The study monitored hip to waist ratio in these women and linked it back to fertility.  It is not the first time that women’s shape has been linked to their ability to have children.

Five years ago, a study in the journal Proceedings Of The Royal Society claimed that another reproductive hormone estradiol was 30 per cent higher in women with an hourglass shape.

As a result, the women were apparently approximately three times more likely to get pregnant.